Bedtime Stories
by DayDreamerGirl4life
Summary: Katie Gardner hates Travis Stoll...or so she says. Her siblings are determined to get to the bottom of what's going on between them, whatever it takes. Includes Tratie and excessive amounts of Demeter kids.
1. The Story That Started It All

**Yet another Tratie one shot, I might turn this into a multichapter fic if anyone expresses some intrest...**

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"That stupid, useless, infuriating, pig-headed, thick, stupid boy" sixteen year old Katie Gardner yelled angrily as she stormed into Demeter Cabin and sat down on her bunk. Her twin sister Miranda was right behind her, obviously trying very hard not to laugh. Their other half siblings all stopped what they were doing to watch their eldest sister warily, preparing themselves for 'the rant'.

Well apart from one exception, fourteen year old Philippa Weed never missed any opportunity to wind Katie up. "You said stupid twice" she pointed out calmly, smirking down at Katie from a top bunk.

Miranda scowled at Philippa warningly as below twelve year old Emily Evergreen kicked her mattress. Philippa rolled her eyes "Just trying to lighten the mood...so how is Travis?"

On the other side of the cabin the three boys groaned simultaneously as Katie sprung up "Him and his stupid brother..."

"There are other insulting words than stupid you know Katie" Philippa interjected; smirking as Katie's reddening face went up a shade.

"Philippa, just shut up" fifteen year old Derrick Farrow said firmly, earning several nods from the rest of the cabin.

"Who's gonna make me Lanky?" Philippa retorted before turning back to Katie "So what did Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber do?"

"They've only gone and given all the pegasai laxatives and then gone riding the around camp" Katie fumed, not noticing the snigger going round the cabin or that Emily had her fist in her mouth to try and stop herself laughing "It's going to take weeks and to clear up and loads of the strawberry fields have been splattered and no one else is going to help us with those!"

Philippa was one of the few to have kept a straight face and calmly asked "And did you say thank you?"

The younger ones laughed uneasily as the older ones looked on in horror at Katie's expression "Why in Hades should I have said thank you?"

Philippa tutted disapprovingly "All that effort they put into putting lovely manure on the fields for us and you couldn't even say thank you, now come on Katie."

Most of the cabin laughed at that as Katie struggled for a comeback "Well...it's not like they meant to be helpful!"

Miranda put her arm around her sister jokingly "Now now Kate remember what Dad always says, a favour's a favour if you like it or not"

Katie pulled away "Oh shut up" she rummaged in her drawer, pulled out some pyjamas and flounced off into the bathroom.

Derrick turned on Philippa "What did you do that for?"

Philippa looked at him irritably "Amusement, and as you bleeding laughed you can get off your Trojan horse you..."

"Guys..." Miranda said wearily "Cut it out already, lights out in five minutes"

"What about my story?"Eight year old Jasmine Pip asked in horror "Andy you know I can't get to sleep without my story..."

"I don't need a story" her twin brother Callum announced proudly "You're such a baby Jazz"

"She's not the one who wets the bed" muttered Emily's twin brother Jonathan causing Callum to lunge at him with a pillow.

"Take that back" Callum yelled indignantly as he whacked his brother with a pillow repeatedly.

"Hey! Get off me you little brat" Jonathan tried to defend himself without seriously hurting his little brother. This led to a triumphant Callum and most of the rest of the cabin laughing at poor Jonathan.

Derrick was laughing especially hard "How can you lose to him, he's younger than you!"

Philippa climbed nimbly down to floor level and glanced at Derrick coolly "I'm younger than you and a girl, what's your excuse?"

She walked over and firmly detached the struggling Callum from Jonathan and pushed him towards his own bed with more force than was strictly necessary. Of course Katie picked this moment to come out of the bathroom "Philippa!"

"What?" Philippa asked indignantly "What have I done now?"

"Callum attacked Jonathan and Philippa spilt them up" Emily said loyally "She wasn't doing anything wrong"

Katie turned to ask Miranda what had happened, only to find that she'd stolen the bathroom "Hey! I wasn't finished in there"

Derrick's twin Poppy Farrow sighed as Katie hammered on the door "Come on guys, I'm tired

"What about my story?" Jasmine demanded again "We can't turn the lights out until I've had my story"

Katie looked at Jasmine wearily "Sorry Jazz but I'm a bit tired to tell you a story tonight...I'll tell you two tomorrow"

"I want my story now" Jasmine played her trump card "Daddy always reads us a story doesn't he Callum?"

"Yeah" Callum admitted "But you always make him read a boring fairytale with some dopey princess in"

"I'll tell you a story Jazz" Philippa offered.

The entire cabin looked at her in amazement before laughing. "You, telling bedtime stories?" Derrick laughed "You'll deliberately give them nightmares"

Philippa hurled a pillow at him "No I won't"

Jasmine looked up at her warily "You mean it?"

"Anything to help Katie out" Philippa asked sweetly, gesturing for Jasmine to climb up next to her.

Katie opened her mouth to argue, convinced that there was no way in Hades that Philippa would ever do anything just to be nice. But then again as long as she listened to make sure there was nothing too bad "What kind of a story are you going to tell?" she asked suspiciously.

Philippa shrugged "Depends on whether Callum's too old for bedtime stories or not"

Callum leapt up "I'm not. I'm not. Can I sit on the top bunk too?"

"NO" Katie and Derrick said at once. Jasmine stuck her tongue out at her brother but her victory was short lived "You too Jasmine, get in your own bed" Katie said firmly.

Miranda came out of the bathroom "Toilet's free Katie"

Katie shook her head, perching on her bed "I think I'm going to listen to Philippa's story"

"Great" Philippa arranged her pillow against the wall so she could face all her siblings "Once upon a time..."

"This isn't going to be an icky fairytale is it?" Callum asked warily.

"Of course it's not" Philippa glared at him "Now shut up and listen"

"Once upon a time there were twelve magical kingdom's all ruled over by a great and powerful King or Queen. One of these great Queens's had nine children; Princess Kathryn, Princess Andrina, Prince Gollum..."

"Thanks" Derrick muttered before being shushed by Miranda who was grinning.

"Princess Poppilia, Princess Philiteria, Prince Jonathus, Princess Emilyra, Prince Calmatron and the youngest Princess who was called Jasaminda"

"That's like my name" Jasmine squealed "What did Princess Jasaminda look like?"

"Was she ugly?" asked Callum hopefully "Did she have a really big nose?"

"Stop being nasty Callum" Katie said warningly "Go on Philiteria"

"Well the nine royal siblings of...err Haverstion had to go to a special school for royalty with the princes and princesses from the other lands. There was the wise Princess Bethanna and Prince Percyarion from err, Seaworld" This sent Miranda into hysterics and Philippa had to wait until everyone was quiet again.

"Anyway it was at this school that Princess Kathryn met Prince Travur" Philippa paused for suspense, ignoring Katie's warning glare. "Princess Kathryn hated Travur with a passion; while the other royals would laugh at his daring exploits she would just glare at him and make the Marge Simpson noise..."

"I do not make the Marge Simpson noise" Katie insisted angrily.

"I never said you did" Philippa said innocently "But yeah, Princess Kathryn hated Prince Travur and tried to get him into trouble at every opportunity..."

Poppy piped up "Did she snitch on him when he and his hotter brother threw a golden Mango into the dormitory of the children of Queen Aphrodite?" Katie looked outraged at this but Philippa grinned

Philippa nodded "Well it was never proved but yes there was definitely a suspicion."

"I think this story's gone far..." Katie began but the majority of her younger siblings shouted her down.

"Did any of the Princesses find their true love?" Jasmine asked excitedly "Did loads of the other Princes fight over them? Did Jasaminda have to kiss a frog?"

Callum pouted "You promised you wouldn't make this a fairy tale..."

"It isn't" Philippa reassured him "Only Prince Gollum was dating anyone" She shot a smug look at Derrick "and the common hope was that Princess Kaylia would soon come to her senses"

"Anyway, one day the nine royals were making their way into the school canteen when Prince Connorion, who was the younger brother of Prince Travur, came up to Princess Kathryn and handed her a secret note." Philippa paused for dramatic effect as Katie rounded on Miranda.

"You promised you wouldn't say anything?" Katie yelled.

Miranda held her hands up defensively "She saw the whole thing, what was I supposed to do?"

"What thing? What did she see?" Poppy demanded, all traces of tiredness gone "Did Connor really give you a note?"

Derrick smiled weakly "No way, he didn't, did he Katie?"

Katie looked from one scandalised face to the next before glaring at Philippa "You can't have read that note...It's not possible..."

Jonathan and Emily grinned simultaneously "So you're admitting that there actually was a note?"

Jasmine didn't care about this real life discovery, she was much more interested in Princess Kathryn "Come on Pippa, tell the story"

"Kathryn unfurled the parchment and stupidly read aloud to her trusted sister Andrina."Philippa adopted a deeper lovesick voice "Princess Kathryn I know we've had our differences in the past but..."

"You eavesdropping little harpy" Katie lunged for Philippa "I'm going to kill you"

Miranda held back her twin "I think that's enough story for one night, Philippa be quiet"

Philippa drew up her legs warily "Does no one in this cabin have a sense of humour?"

"How would you like it if we started pairing you up with Nico di Angelo?" demanded Derrick.

Philippa scowled at him "I't prove that you were a limp delusional piece of celery"

Katie had calmed down sufficiently to walk over to the light switch "Everybody under the covers and eyes shut in three, two...one"

She flicked the lights off before climbing into her own bed "Goodnight everybody"

Her siblings all mumbled their own goodnights and the room and finally gone silent when Callum sat up in bed "Tomorrow can we have a story about robots?"


	2. The Morning After

**Hello people, well I promised people I'd continue this and here you are...**

**I'm not going to lie to you, I'm not a brilliant updater but I'll try to add a new chapter every couple of weeks if I can. I don't own Percy Jackson, just the very large number of OC's that will be popping up in this story. So please read, enjoy and review :)**

**Thank you, author's note over...**

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"Wakey Wakey" Derrick said with enthusiasm, clapping his hands together to roused his siblings "Rise and shine, we've got to get this place clean for inspection before we go to breakfast"

A pillow collided with the side of his head, hard. "Go back to sleep" Philippa muttered sleepily before turning over.

Derrick scowled at her before flicking the electric light on "Come on guys, get up"

Nobody moved.

Miranda opened one eye slowly and groaned as she glanced at the clock on the wall "Sorry guys but he's right, we do need to get up"

Derrick disappeared into the bathroom as the rest of the cabin began to argue with Miranda

"We?" Jonathan sat up in his bed indignantly "Our side of the cabins tidy, it's only the girls that have to get up to clean"

"Yeah" Callum smirked proudly "Girls are the messy ones"

Emily glared at her twin as she climbed out of bed "We have less time to tidy our side of the cabin because we practice this thing called personal hygiene, you might have heard of it bro"

"You boys can help, it's not all our mess" Miranda said firmly, wiping the smirk off the younger boys faces "Poppy, Philippa, get up now"

Poppy obliged with a yawn but Philippa didn't budge "Is the Furher up yet?"

Miranda glanced at Katie "Katie, Kate?"

"She's probably having a nice dream about a certain Prince Travur" Poppy said knowingly, causing Emily to giggle "We probably shouldn't wake her"

Miranda silenced them with a look before turning to the determined duvet lump that was Philippa "Phil if you aren't up in ten seconds I'm going to..."

Philippa rolled her eyes before climbing down in her camp T-shirt and combats "There I'm up and dressed, that's one up on you Andy"

"Eww" Poppy looked horrified "Did you sleep in your clothes?"

"No, I changed under the covers" Philippa said slowly "It beats waiting for that wannabe son of Aphrodite to finish bleaching his teeth"

"I do not bleach my teeth" Derricks muffled voice came from the bathroom.

"Then why do you take so flipping long?" Philippa countered going outside to fetch the dustpan and brush from outside "Oh look, we're the first ones up...yet again."

"Not all of us" Miranda shook Katie gently "Come on, time to get up"

"We know you're having a nice dream and everything" Poppy said, making most of the cabin snigger as Katie sat up blearily

"Who? What? Where?" she muttered rubbing her eyes and disoriented.

Philippa moved outside to dump a load of the dried soil they'd all brought in on their shoes "Travis Stoll, Married, and Vegas." She winked at her sister "Have a nice dream?"

Katie looked at her, confused. And then it dawned on her and she scowled at her younger sister "You say one more word and you are on garbage control for the rest of your life Philippa"

Derrick and Poppy swapped in and out of the bathroom in time to see Philippa smile brightly at Katie "What's the matter? Was I right?"

Katie's eyes flashed with anger "Oh that's it, Jonathan and Emily you're off pooper scooper duty, Philippa's on stable cleaning duty alone for the rest of the week." She dug some clothes out of the drawer and flounced off into the bathroom "Off you go Weed"

Philippa looked outraged "For what? It was just a joke..." She looked around the cabin for support "She can't seriously put me on Stable Cleaning duty for making a fucking joke"

Miranda gestured at Callum and Jasmine indignantly "I can for swearing...we'll all see you at breakfast when you've calmed down a bit"

Philippa scowled at Miranda but she obediently pulled on her battered combat boots "I'm not a little kid you know Andy." She imitated her sister's voice "Calmed down a bit"

Miranda looked at her unsympathetically "Then don't act like one"

Philippa rolled her eyes and walked out of the cabin. Emily watched her go through the window "We're not really going to leave her on her own are we?"

Jonathan nodded "That'd be a bit harsh"

Derrick snorted "Oh yeah because she's never harsh..."

Jonathan opened his mouth to argue but Katie's voice came flooding out of the bathroom "That's enough you two; we're not leaving for breakfast unless this cabin is clean and tidy"

Callum's stomach began to rumble with comic timing and the siblings set to work in silence, making the beds and sweeping out the dried earth. Poppy spruced up the flowers with a murmured "Ananeo̱theíte" and they took it in turns to go and get dressed.

When the cabin and its habitants were finally spotless Katie got them all to line up to go to breakfast, the older ones were quite disgruntled at being treated like five year olds but eventually hunger won over pride. Miranda towards the back of the queue "Stop fighting you two" Katie took Jasmine's hand and pulled her away from Callum.

Jasmine stuck her tongue out at Callum smugly as she stood at the front of the line with Katie and Miranda "I'm gonna get my cereal first"

A snort sounded from the door "Yeah cause there's likely to be a cereal shortage in the near future. Gods, we must be the only cabin that ever eats it." Philippa walked in, carrying the distinct smell of pegasai excrement with her. Her ponytail was already falling out and she climbed up to her bunk, looking exhausted "I'm skipping breakfast to sleep, see you later"

Katie crossed her arms "You are not skipping breakfast Philippa it's..." she began but Miranda interrupted

"On your head be it, now come on I'm hungry" Miranda pulled Katie out of the cabin and the others followed, leaving Philippa to bury her head in her pillow contentedly.

Just as she was dozing off she heard voices outside the cabin. "If she's actually read it Connor I swear to Dad I'm actually going to kill you"

Philippa's eyes shot open, was that Travis Stoll?

The unmistakable voice of Connor Stoll wafted in through the window "I told you Travis, she's definitely read it. I didn't realise you didn't actually want her to read it, who's stupid idea was it anyway? Writing down all your feelings in a flipping addressed letter and then leaving it in the cabin of the messenger God. That was bound to go wrong."

"She'll have thought it was a joke won't she?" Travis said, sounding quite dejected. "Stupid Aphrodite"

"You know that sort of thing might have led to this situation in the first place" The cabin door slowly opened "Come on, let's go get your soppy letter back"

Philippa quickly pulled the covers over her head and tried to breathe as quietly as possible. The voices were muffled but still reasonably audible "Are you sure they won't be back soon? I really don't want Katie thinking I'm going through her stuff"

"But you are going through her stuff" Philippa heard a sudden thud and a yelp of pain "Ow, that wasn't necessary"

"When I find out who was stupid enough to give Katie that letter I'm going to kill them" Philippa smirked at the nervous laugh from Connor "Where can she have put it?"

"Try looking under the pillow" Connor suggested "I'm assuming you do know which bed is hers, with all the spying and..."

Another thump "Ow...if you keep hitting me I might just leave you here on your own to search for your own stupid letter"

Philippa risked a peep from under her duvet and saw Travis turning Katie's bed upside down "Found it"

"Finally" Connor headed for the door "Let's go to breakfast"

Travis made to follow but then stopped "Wait, we've got to tidy this place up or Katie will know we were here"

Connor crossed his arms "The missing letter might give her a clue you know..."

Travis scowled at him "Shut up and help, this is all your fault."

Philippa had to bite her lip to stop herself laughing at the terrified expression on Connors face. "What?" He squeaked before coughing "How is it my fault?"

Travis was too busy trying to make Katie's bed again to notice his brother's voice had gone up a few octaves "You left that stupid letter in our cabin, remember?"

"Oh yeah" Connor breathed a sigh of relief "My bad, seriously"

"There" Travis stepped back "That looks alright doesn't it?" He started to turn and Philippa hid back under the duvet.

She heard the door open again "It'll be fine, now come on. We're already gonna have to stand at breakfast"

Travis must have followed Connor out because the door closed. After waiting for a minute or two Philippa slowly sat up, a smile unfurling on her freckled face "Oh this is going to be so much fun"


	3. Blessing in Disgiuse

**A few things, first off this is a ridiculously fast update for me so don't get used to it. Next, '**_**This is a prayer to one of the god's o.k., in case anyone gets confused'**_** and finally I also welcome ideas from reviewers as I've had a few verbal ones from friends. Next:-**

**Responses to unsigned reviews**

**-****A Reviewer and Terces society as your reviews were on a similar theme**

**Fair enough, she's not winning Miss Congeniality any time soon. Any ideas for Karma?**

**-Writersforthewin**

**Thank you very much, no I hadn't ever heard of the Children of the Lamp Series before but now I've ordered the first one online because it looks great. Yeah my Demeter kids are a bit OOC but I kinda like them like that :)**

**Anyway the longest authors note ever is now over and thank you everybody and enjoy...**

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Katie brushed her mousy hair out of her eyes as she finished her third slice of toast, looking around the dining pavilion. They had been the first cabin into breakfast, unsurprisingly, and now everyone else was making an appearance. She found herself watching Hermes cabin warily as they filed in, rowdier than ever.

Travis and Connor weren't there and Katie felt a small twinge of disappointment. She'd been planning how she was going to confront Travis about that stupid note all morning. Her pillow had taken rather savage beating under the pretence of plumping it and her planned speech was worthy of a daughter of Apollo

But it made no difference because the stupid douche was avoiding her. Oh yes he must be, why else wouldn't he be here? Oh she hated him so much, when she got hold of him...

"Earth to Katie" Katie started and Miranda smiled "What have we got first?"

"Archery with Apollo Cabin" David answered, his face brightening at the thought.

Poppy grinned, almost cooing "You and Kayla are so cute together, when she's helping you with your archery and she puts her hand over yours and it's so..."

"Hello, eating here" Jonathan complained, miming being sick under the table. Emily glared at her twin but Derrick just ruffled his hair

"You wait little bro, one day someone will catch your eye" the older boy said knowingly.

Jonathan looked disgusted and pulled away "No fear" he glanced at Callum for support.

The eight year old nodded firmly "Girls are really icky"

Miranda grinned, reaching across to tickle her little brother "Oh really? Well boys are ickier, so there"

"Are not" As Callum giggled and tried to get free Katie's eyes strayed back to the Hermes table.

Connor and Travis had just been late, how typical of them. Of course a schedule didn't mean anything to them. They never took anything seriously; they'd recently started flitting from Aphrodite girl to Aphrodite girl. She'd never heard of Travis having a relationship longer than a month, and never with anyone who wasn't blonde...

Katie found herself focusing on a pillar directly behind Travis's ear, which had a very endearing little point that she'd never noticed before. Then she noticed Travis watching her back and felt her heart stop. He blushed, Travis Stoll **blushing**, and quickly looked away. He must have thought she was actually staring at him, oh gods.

"Katie?" Emily looked quite concerned "Are you o.k.?"

Poppy's eyes flashed suspiciously and she grinned "You're the same colour as the strawberries"

"I'm fine" Katie snapped defensively, turning away from her curious little sisters "Has everybody finished then?"

"What's the hurry?" Poppy asked "Apollo Cabin has only just started their breakfast and we can't start without them"

Katie just slumped down in her seat, turning her body as far away from Travis Stoll as humanly possible. Miranda exchanged a curious look with David and Poppy but no one passed any comment on Katie's unusual behaviour.

Jonathan just shrugged and helped himself to another bowl of cereal. Emily looked at him, unimpressed "What? I'm hungry..."

Emily shook her head before glancing at Katie warily "If we're going to be here a while maybe Phil could get something to eat too?"

"If she wants" Katie said nonchalantly. She tried to like Philippa, she really did, but the kid was just a ginger pain in the backside most of the time. Admittedly she was quite funny but she never did what she was told, she'd spent way too much time in Hermes Cabin before she'd got claimed.

Suddenly Miranda nudged her and whispered "Katie, Travis and Connor are coming over"

Poppy's eyes lit up and she peered over her shoulder "I wonder what they want..."

Katie sunk down in her seat, closing her eyes '_Mom I don't ask you for much but please produce a distraction or something, I don't want to face him._'

"Hey Kat...Gardner" Travis even sounded nervous, the stupid idiot probably realised he'd gone too far "Can I talk to you?"

She opened her eyes and looked at him scornfully, trying to act like her face wasn't radiating as much heat as the sun chariot "That depends Stoll, can you?" It was a lame comeback but it gave her ten seconds to think of something else to say.

Travis gave her a nervous smile "Good one" Connor glared at him, evidently unimpressed at his crawling behaviour...oh gods she had something in common with Connor Stoll. She was going to see Mr D as soon as her Mother struck down Travis Stoll and all his stupid pranks. Yeah.

"Actually Stoll" Thank the gods for Miranda, Katie thought, she'd get rid of them "We were just going to..."

"Just a quick word" Travis pressed, and Katie became aware of the fact that all her siblings were watching the pair of them, as well as several people from other tables.

Travis looked at her, his face was fine but Katie noticed that his ears were scarlet. Good, he should be embarrassed, stupid boy. This was all his fault, now she'd have those stupid daughters of Aphrodite all over her. They'd probably be jealous, though she had no idea why...

Derrick often took his role as the oldest boy more seriously than his sisters liked "Look Stoll, she doesn't want to talk to you so why don't you just back off?"

Connor made a visible effort not to snigger at the skinny boy a year his junior. Travis tried to give the trademark Hermes Cabin winning grin but it came out a little awkward "Look Derrick I'm not trying to cause trouble..."

"Always good to know" Katie inwardly sobbed, just what the situation needed. Philippa strolled towards her table "Hey guys, I feel so much better for just lying down in the cabin for a bit"

She started in mock surprise when she saw the Stoll brothers "Oh, to what do we owe the pleasure?"

If Travis had looked nervous before he was now starting to look green "Gardner..."

Philippa put her arm around Travis's shoulders looking very concerned "Wow Travis you look ill, Connor you should really take him to the infirmary or something" Connor looked at Philippa suspiciously as she released Travis and pushed him gently towards Connor, but he retreated.

Philippa plonked down next to Poppy looking at Katie "You might not like me Katie but even you can't deny I've got my uses"

Katie just slumped down on the table '_That wasn't what I meant..._'


	4. Only Just Believable

**Hey, I know it's been a while...**

**My only defense is that I've been lumbered with loads and loads of exams and that this chapter was an absolute pain to write. It's also a bit filler-y ,BUT...you get to find out exactly what was on the note next chapter so bear with me :)**

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Hermes Cabin and large amounts of clay definitely didn't mix. Will was going to stick a ton of arrows in Travis when he saw the Arts and Crafts Cabin but he didn't care very much at that particular moment.

Katie, at the very best, had thought his letter was a tasteless joke. That letter that he had poured his heart and soul into, seriously he'd spent almost twenty minutes on it, and she thought it was a joke.

Or, she had taken it seriously and was so repulsed that she couldn't even look at him. And now that stupid ginger girl was going to tell Katie everything and he was going to have to jump of the creek, into the lake and ask Poseidon to make it quick. Great.

Yep Travis Stoll was basically on the verge of panic, and Connor definitely wasn't helping.

He rolled his eyes "Oh she was probably asleep, when did you turn into such a daughter of Apollo?"

Travis turned on him "Daughter of Apollo? What's that supposed to mean?"

Connor was concentrating on his sculpture "Err...Drama Queen, what exactly was on that note anyway?" Connor smirked "Oh come on, did you admit that you've always loved her? Or go on and on about the way her brown eyes melt your soul or something disgustingly gooey like that?"

A horrible thought crossed his mind "You didn't did you? I mean you don't do you..."

Travis felt his ears burn "Of course not..."

Connor groaned and looked at his brother incredulously "Seriously, you seriously like Gardner...Katie Gardner, the straight up daughter of Demeter with no sense of humour, who follows all the rules all the time, who has got us busted so many times?" Travis scowled at him "That Katie Gardner? Are you kidding me?"

Travis blushed "She's cool..."

Connor stared at him "No, she's the total opposite of cool. She is the most un-cool person I know. It's actually quite impressive."

"Shut up" Travis snapped "What exactly am I going to do?"

"No idea" Connor said, nonchalantly turning to his half sister behind him "Lily, guess what Travis has just done. He's only gone and..."

He didn't get any further than that because Travis, utterly incensed, took the large ball of clay he had been kneading and shoved it right into his brother's open mouth. "Shut up!"

It was a sign of how strange life in Hermes Cabin could be that Lily barely even reacted to one of her brothers apparently trying to choke another to death. She'd already turned back to her topless statue of Apollo "Uh uh Connor, that's great"

Connor pulled the clay out of his mouth, scraping off his tongue and gagging. "You complete and utter piece of..."

Travis raised his eyebrows but his eyes were twinkling "Language Connor, there are young children in the room remember?"

Connor scowled at his brother before smiling "Right, you asked for it"

He lunged at Travis, knocking him off the bench and onto the floor. They started fighting and it took Travis a few seconds to realise his brother was surreptitiously going through his pockets.

"Hey" he pushed Connor off him and felt his heart drop even as he reached into his pocket. The letter was gone. "Give it back"

Connor no longer looked so happy "I don't have it, I swear" The other Hermes kids were watching now, placing bets on whether Connor was going to lose another tooth.

Travis calmed down enough to glare at his half siblings until them looked away before he hissed "You must have it. It didn't just fly out of my pocket did it?"

"No" a horrible thought crossed Connor's mind "No, she couldn't have..."

"What?" Travis asked, all of a sudden Connor looked very ill.

Connor spoke slowly "The ginger one, Philippa was it? She couldn't have...A daughter of Demeter can't have pick pocketed a son of Hermes, right?"

Travis's heart stopped.

"No, No" he put his head in his hands '_Hi Dad, seriously, what did I do to you_?'

Connor put a comforting arm around his brother's shoulders, aware that his face was twitching oddly as he tried really, really hard not to laugh.

He failed miserably.

"It's not funny!" Travis elbowed his brother in the stomach "Stop laughing!"

"No you're right" Connor stopped laughing long enough to pretend to be serious "It's hilarious!"

Travis spoke slowly; poison dripping from every word "I hope you get trampled by a herd of drunken centaurs"

His brother didn't take him too seriously "Love you too bro" He paused, watching his brother nonchalantly "So...What are you going to do now then?"

Travis's voice was muffled as his head slumped onto the table "Kill myself, any objections?"

"Yes you overreacting Pansy..." Connor smirked "Hey maybe you and Gardner isn't such a bad idea, we already have a nickname for you...Anyway, I bet that Philippa girl will give it back. She and Katie aren't exactly the best of friends after all. Still maybe to diffuse the tension, I'd better go. Look I'll corner her after lunch, o.k?"

Travis raised his head slowly "You really think you can get it back?" he asked uncertainly.

Connor rolled his eyes; no wonder people thought he was the older one. "No girl can resist my charms, no matter who her mother is" he said confidently.

Travis was starting to regain his composure a bit "Cool, so you'll...deal with it?"

"Of course I will" Connor clapped his brother on the back "You can always count on me mate..." Inwardly he added, especially when I've messed up big time and really need to cover my tracks


End file.
